


Gravity

by harmonichearts



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Post-Season/Series 04, and he and Clarke spent five years post Praimfaya together on the ground, if Bellamy had nightblood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-13 03:36:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14741295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harmonichearts/pseuds/harmonichearts
Summary: “Bellamy,” she whispers.“Make me a nightblood,” he says, pulling away from her, and pushing the sleeve of his hazmat suit up, extending his now bare forearm.  “Make me like you.”





	Gravity

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to another alternate canon post season 4 (it won't leave me alone!) where this time they're BOTH on the ground, YAY!
> 
> Please suspend your disbelief once again in regards to the locations of landmarks. Oh, and also, ENJOY!
> 
> Title from "Gravity" by Hit The Lights
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

It starts with an argument about aligning the satellite dish, and ends with a confession of love.

Becca’s lab is all hustle and bustle as they prepare for take off.Raven, going over every last detail of the rocket, and everyone else doing what Raven tells them to do.

When she approaches Bellamy and Clarke, they’re in the middle of packing up a small store of food to help them get started on the ring before Monty gets the algae farm running.They keep glancing at each other when they think the other isn’t looking, and it’s so obvious it’s adorable.

“Hey,” Raven says.“So, we have a small-ish problem.Before we take off, we need to get the satellite dish aligned with the Ark in order to turn the power on up there.It’s actually pretty simple.”She holds up a tablet.“Just plug the tablet into the base of the dish’s tower and then it’ll align itself.I need to stay here and finish prepping the rocket, so who wants to do it?”

“I’ll go,” Clarke says.

“No,” Bellamy interjects.“Not alone.I’ll come with you.”

“It’s really more of a one person job,” Raven smirks, eyebrow quirked.“You two figure it out fast.We’ve got one hour until the death wave hits, and I’ve got shit to finish,” she says, leaving them the tablet and walking back to the rocket.

“I’ll go,” Clarke reiterates, picking up the tablet.“Just finish helping them load everything up.It won’t take long.I’ll be back, I promise,” she says, sending him a small, wavering smile.

But before she can walk away, Bellamy reaches out, grabs her wrist.“Clarke, I’m not leaving you alone out there.What if something happens?”

“Exactly.What if?I have nightblood now, and an actual chance of surviving out there if something does happen.”

“Untested nightblood.Clarke—”

“Bellamy, no.I need you to stay here.I need to know you’re safe, and on that rocket, in case there’s a hold up or not enough time or—”

“You don’t think I need the same thing, Clarke?To know you’re safe, and by my side, and—”

“I’m not going to be able to do this, to concentrate on anything else, if in the back of my mind there’s the chance that you don’t make it out of this alive and—”

“Why, Clarke?Why now is my safety going to stop you from getting done what needs done?Why is it such a big deal when every other time you’ve never had a problem—”

They’re talking over each other now, messy and convoluted, voices rising to be heard, until Clarke says the one thing that brings a hush about the room.

“I love you!” she cries, and tears start pooling in her eyes and leaking out, one by one, sliding slowly down her flushed cheeks.She takes a heaving breath, takes in Bellamy’s stunned expression.“Because I love you,” she says again, whisper soft.She brushes the tears away, anger taking over.“And don’t you dare say it was never a big deal any other time.That I never had a problem putting you in danger, because I can barely think straight when you’re in danger, Bellamy, and I—”

He cuts her off by pulling her into his arms, her face smashed up against the side of his neck, his hand cupping the back of her head.“No, no, Clarke, I wasn’t—That’s not what I meant.I know you—” he sighs, and buries his face in her hair, close to her ear.He squeezes her tighter, and her eyes close.She’s ready for the rejection.The pity he’s surely going to serve up because he doesn’t love her like that.But then she remembers this is Bellamy, her partner.Her best friend.And he would never pity her, no matter what.

Still, she can’t help but notice he hasn’t said it back.

But then, his lips are against her ear, pressing softly, little kisses that trail to her cheek and her nose and down to her lips, and it’s desperate and bruising and urgent.Truly the kind of kiss that can only be given at the end of the world.

When he pulls back, he rests his forehead against hers, thumb brushing across her cheek gently.“I love you so goddamn much, Clarke.And that is why you aren’t doing this alone.I’m not leaving you.Not now, not ever.”

“Bellamy,” she whispers.

“Make me a nightblood,” he says, pulling away from her, and pushing the sleeve of his hazmat suit up, extending his now bare forearm.“Make me like you.”

Clarke’s brain is going a mile a minute, eyes darting around between Bellamy and his forearm and the lab and the rocket and the tablet and he loves her and holy fuck, he wants to be a nightblood too just in case and—

Her eyes snag on the refrigerator in the corner and she remembers.There was a second dose of nightblood from the batch Abby made that Clarke had injected herself with. 

“It’s untested,” Clarke says.“You said so yourself.”But she’s already moving to the refrigerator and removing the little vile inside, viscous black material glinting in the lab’s florescent light.

“Doesn’t matter.We’ll be the same, and then no matter the outcome, we live together or we die together, Clarke.No more separations.I’m fucking tired of being torn apart.”

There’s a syringe in her medical kit and she preps it with the nightblood solution before taking a cotton swab of alcohol to Bellamy’s skin.

“Together?” she asks.

“Together.”

In the end, they make it to the satellite tower, and there are complications and problems because there are _always_ complications and problems.

In the end, they don’t make it back to the lab before Raven is forced to take off.

In the end, they collapse into each other on the lab’s cold, concrete floor, covered in blisters and radiation burns.

But also in the end, they survive.

—-

The end of the world is a bleak place.There’s not a lot of pretty to go around, but Clarke is absolutely positive she’s never seen anything as beautiful as Bellamy’s smile in the morning when they wake together in a bed in Becca’s mansion.She has no clue how the building survived when everything else around them is in ruins, but she’s not going to complain.There’s food and water and safety and Bellamy. 

Truly, the only four things she really needs to be happy.

It’s the same almost every morning when they wake up.200 days after Praimfaya, and nothing’s changed much.Bellamy’s fingertips dance along her bare shoulder and when she opens her eyes, he’s smiling, goofy and warm and bright, and Clarke’s heart aches just looking at him, she loves him so much.

“Good morning,” he whispers, and she leans in to kiss him.

“Morning.”

He brushes her hair back as they scoot closer together, and his hand travels down her spine to the small of her back, inching under her shirt and rubbing soft, soothing circles.It’s enough to lull Clarke back into a sound sleep, but now sleep is the last thing on her mind.His hands are warm, fingers calloused, and it feels so good to be touched by him.By the person who has proven time and time again he loves her most in the world.

The person she loves the most, too.

“What are our plans for today?” Bellamy asks, and Clarke smirks, hand traveling down between them and under the waistband of his sleep pants.

“Jesus,” he groans, as her fingers wrap around him.

And okay, maybe this isn’t the same every morning.Sometimes they just laze around for hours and read or make breakfast, or tinker with various projects. Sometimes they take the rover out and explore wherever they can reach.But, sometimes, there are days like this where they stay in bed as long as possible and worship each other, and the fact that they’re both still alive, together, and while scarred, they’re still unbroken, even after enduring so much shit.

Clarke kisses him, hand and mouth working in tandem to drive him crazy, and yeah, it is a good morning.

—-

Clarke finds an old battered pair of sunglasses in one of the mansion’s spare bedrooms and sports them proudly as she rides shotgun in the rover, Bellamy driving them to new, uncharted parts of the map they’ve constructed.He tries to steal them off her face once or twice, teasing, but Clarke just laughs and swats his hand away.

“You’re supposed to be driving!”

“I am,” he huffs.

“Mmm.A likely story.”

“We’re still moving aren’t we?”

“Just don’t crash.We didn’t survive a radiation storm to die because you can’t keep your hands to yourself,” she jokes.

“If I recall correctly, you’re the one who started the day unable to keep your hands to yourself.”

Clarke leans in close, over the center console so her lips are right next to his ear.“And if _I_ recall correctly, you quite enjoyed me not keeping my hands to myself.”

He shivers, just a little, and Clarke kisses his cheek before sitting back fully in her seat.

There’s music playing too, from the old iPod that was Jasper’s, and Maya’s before that.It’s a good way to remember, Clarke thinks.The people they’ve lost along the way will always be with them, and she chooses now to remember the good things about them.The happy times they shared.

The rover crests over a sand dune and they spot it.An expanse of green, dense in trees and grass and life.

“Holy shit,” Bellamy whispers, and as the rover creeps closer to the line where sandy brown turns to lush green, he slows to a stop.

“How?” Clarke breathes, and Bellamy shakes his head, their disbelief just another shared notion.

They exit the rover, guns strapped to their backs.Even if they are the only people left on the ground, it never hurts to be too careful.The trees are dense, clustered together at the entrance of the green patch, and together they wade through underbrush and fallen limbs before breaking into a clearing of cabins surrounding a church.Clarke’s eyes widen into further disbelief.

“What kru was this?” she asks, but Bellamy only shrugs, shakes his head.

“No idea.But, they looked...happy, until,” he says, taking in the colorful banners and strings of lights.There are stained glass windows and art pieces littering the grounds.“Do you think there could be survivors?If this part of the earth was somehow missed, maybe the people were too.”

Clarke takes a few steps, walking toward the church building.The fresh smell of grass and clover quickly changes the closer she gets to the building.“I don’t think so,” she says sadly, because she knows what’s replacing the freshness. 

Copper.

Burnt flesh.

Death.

Smells she’s become all too familiar with.

Smells she wishes she could forget.

Clarke pushes the door to the church open, and there they are.A whole congregation of people, laid out as though there were sleeping.Peaceful and yet disturbing.

Her eyes water and her hand covers her mouth.Bellamy comes up behind her, places a hand on her shoulder and then she’s turning into him, pressing her face to his chest and nestling as close as possible.

“Shit,” he whispers, and she can only nod.

They carry the bodies out together, burn them.A proper send off at the end of days.

It takes all day and they sleep outside after, letting the cabins air out and forgoing a return to the mansion in the dark.It feels wrong in that moment to return to comfort when there’s still so much pain.Huddled close together, they fight demons in their sleep and wake to the rising sun, warm and bright and new.

A new day and a new start.

For them, and later, for their friends.

—-

“So what do you think we should call this place?” Bellamy asks.

They start their new day by doing more cleaning.Clearing out overgrown landscaping, and sorting through the cabins and the yards, scavenging anything useful.

“What?”

“This place,” Bellamy indicates, stretching out his arms, gesturing all around them.“It needs a name.”

“It probably already has one,” Clarke chuckles.

“Yeah, but I’ve always wanted to name a body of land.Make a mark on history, you know?”

She laughs and rolls her eyes, mutters under her breath a soft “nerd.”But really it’s sweet and so very, very Bellamy.

“Take a crack at it then,” she says.“I guess bestowing names is kind of your thing.”He named Octavia, after all, and he still has a penchant for calling Clarke princess from time to time.She isn’t so opposed to it now.Hasn’t really been for a long, long time.Not when he says it with such love and adoration.

He rubs his chin, takes a few steps around the stone fire pit in front of one of the cabins.His eyes rake over everything, and then he smiles.“Eden,” he declares, and it makes Clarke smile too.

“Like, the _garden_ of Eden?”

He shrugs.“It’s lush here, and it survived Praimfaya somehow.Maybe it was divine intervention.”

“I never really took you for the religious type.”

“I’m not,” he says.“Not really.But, this,” he gestures around them again.“This is pretty heavenly.”

She laughs again, enjoying the carefree, happy side of Bellamy that rarely gets to make an appearance.“Ok,” she says.“But if a snake shows up and offers me some forbidden fruit, I’m not sticking around.”

Bellamy’s bubble gets burst a little later on when they find a sign declaring the land as Shallow Valley.

“It’s okay,” Clarke says, patting him on the back and trying not to giggle at his crestfallen expression.“It can still be Eden in our hearts.”

“Yeah, but, _history_ , Clarke.”

She rolls her eyes, but still she kisses him fondly.“You’ve already made a lot of marks on history, Bellamy Blake.”

—-

Shallow Valley has the most amazing lake Clarke has ever experienced on Earth.It’s cool and crisp and the perfect depth for swimming and floating and just relaxing.She figured Bellamy would enjoy the water as well, and while he does join her from time to time, he much prefers laying out on the grassy shore, dozing and soaking up the warm sun.It annoys Clarke to no end that his already golden perfect skin just gets even more golden and perfect while she burns and peels.A new smattering of freckles appears on the top of his shoulders and across his back, and she spends the afternoons after a swim laying with him side by side on their bellies near the water’s edge, just counting them, tracing from dot to dot with her fingertip while he naps beside her.

That’s another thing.She’s never seen him sleep so much in all the time they’ve known each other, and it’s nice.So much planning, so much leading, so much death and destruction, and hardly ever any sleep for either one of them.The bad dreams still come to Clarke and Bellamy both, but it’s getting better as each day passes.A little more of the tight grip the past has on their hearts loosens with each moment they spend together.

She’s lost in tracing a particularly favorite cluster on his back when Bellamy’s eyes creak open and bore back into her own.

“What are you doing?” he murmurs, voice still laced with sleep.

“Counting,” she whispers and he smiles, leaning in to kiss her.

“You’re getting obsessed,” he teases, this being far from the first time he’s caught her.

“No,” she says.“I just love you.And I’m still amazed every day that you’re here with me.”

“Where else would I be?” His arm comes around her and he pulls Clarke more snuggly against his side, kissing her nose, her cheek, her temple.

“Space,” she says quietly, a somber lilt to her voice.

His eyes close, and their foreheads press together.“I wasn’t ever going to go anywhere without you, Clarke.Here, or space, or the bunker.Where you go, I go.If I’m on that list, you’re on that list.It’s as simple as that.”

“Now who’s obsessed?” she teases, and Bellamy rolls his eyes and rises up to rest on his elbow and forearm.His other hand brushes her hair back and he smiles down at her.

“Or maybe I just love you, too.”

—-

They go back and forth between Shallow Valley and the mansion, mostly because Bellamy insists continuously sleeping on the ground is fucking up his back.

“Well you are an old man,” Clarke teases as they climb into their soft, cozy bed.

“When we move there permanently, we’re taking this mattress with us.”

“ _When?_ ” She echoes.

He shrugs as they settle down into the blankets and fluff the pillows.“I mean, yeah.I figured once Raven brings everyone back down and we get the bunker open, there’s going to be a lot of people, and they will not all fit here in this house, as big as it may be.We could have a real community again, like what Camp Jaha was supposed to be, before everything went to shit.”

“There _are_ a lot of already standing cabins there.”

“And we can build more.”

“And there’s freshwater in the lake, game to hunt.Berries,” she smiles, remembering finding the fruit and the sticky fingers and sticky mouths that accompanied it.

“A place of peace.A new beginning.”

“Hmmm,” Clarke hums.“There’s just one problem.”

“What’s that?”

“Well, we can move the mattress and the food, blankets and furniture and clothes.The rover can haul a lot of crap.”Her eyes flick to the other door in the room, not the one that leads out into the hallway, but the one that opens up into an attached bathroom.“What about the shower?” she asks longingly, and Bellamy laughs.

“I’m sure when Spacekru comes back down, Raven can figure out irrigation and we’ll build a shower in whatever cabin we end up in, princess.”

She turns back to him and sighs.“You ever think we put too much pressure on Raven, always assuming she can fix anything?”

“Maybe,” he says.“But she _is_ the best of us.”

Clarke’s fingers trace patterns into the soft fabric stretched across his chest.“Do you think they’re okay?” she whispers.

It’s been hard having no communication other than each other.Clarke wouldn’t trade Bellamy for anyone else.He’s her person, for any and everything.Her constant in a world where everything is so unpredictable.But still she misses her friends, and her mom.And she knows he misses his sister.Sometimes they get irritated with each other and spend a few hours apart, but it never lasts long.They always come back together for meals and for bed. 

They radio the ring and the bunker every day, unsure if their messages are being received, or if they’re falling on deaf ears.It’s sad and sometimes feels useless, but still, they try.

“I think we did the best we could for them,” Bellamy says.“And we have to hope they’re up there, safe and alive and eating whatever weird concoction Monty came up with.”

That brings a laugh out of her, and she scoots closer, head butting up under his chin.Bellamy’s grip tightens and he kisses the top of her head.

“We’ll see them soon,” he says softly, and with only four more years to go, Clarke hopes he’s right.

—-

Time passes.She cuts her hair, and he grows a beard, and while they change, they also tangle closer together, more in sync than they’ve ever been.

“It kind of amazes me,” Clarke says one day when they’re reading in the mansion’s study.Her feet are in Bellamy’s lap and he’s got one hand rubbing them while the other cradles his book.

“What’s that?” he mutters, eyes barely leaving the pages.

“We had grounders and mountain men and a murderous A.I. and the end of the fucking world to contend with and you still managed to find time to shave your face, but now that we have all the time in the world, this is what you do?” she smiles, gesturing to his patchy beard.

He looks up, and he’s basically the cutest thing ever.Patchy beard and messy hair and a pair of oversized glasses they found on a scavenging trip that miraculously happened to be just strong enough for his slightly deteriorating eyes.He doesn’t wear them all the time, just usually when they’re reading, but they’re kind of Clarke’s favorite.

He quirks an eyebrow, sets his book down and shoots her a mischievous grin.Then he’s moving, dislodging her feet as he pushes her back against the couch and hovers overtop of her.His face descends, rough cheek scraping up against her smooth one and making her giggle.

“I thought you liked it.”

“I do,” she huffs, fingers threading through his hair as his arms go around her middle and he nestles his face into the crook of her neck.Bellamy places a lingering kiss against her collarbone and Clarke sighs, content.

She really, really likes the beard.

—-

Clarke is pretty much dead to the world on days where they spend the entirety of their waking hours working in Shallow Valley, making it more habitable and building what little she and Bellamy can accomplish on their own.So, it’s good fortune really, that she hears it.

“Bellamy,” Clarke whispers, pushing at this chest.“Bellamy, wake up.”

“Mmmf,” he groans, arms tightening around her.

“Bellamy, no, I think there’s someone in the house.”

He tenses against her, eyes shooting open, now officially awake.“That’s not possible,” he whispers.

“Listen,” she says, and they both quiet.

There’s a scuffling sound coming from downstairs in what sounds like the kitchen, and then the crashing sound of pots and pans hitting the floor.

“Animal?” he asks.

“There aren’t any around here, they seem to stick to Shallow Valley or the sand dunes.”

“Shit,” he curses, crawling out of bed and pulling his handgun out of the drawer in the bedside table.“Another nightblood?”

“I don’t know,” she says.“I thought Ontari had killed them all, and Luna died in the conclave.There should just be you and me.”She’s on her feet now too, following him out into the hallway and tiptoeing down the stairs.Bellamy has the gun raised and if she wasn’t so freaked out, she’d be laughing.Bellamy, gun raised, creeping about the house in pajamas and bed head.It’s quite the site.

Although really, she’s not much better off, barefoot and wearing only one of his spare shirts.They are nowhere near battle ready, and why would they be?It’s been just them for three and a half years, living in peace and solitude.Clarke feels irritated, skulking around in the dark of her own home. Their nighttime visitor is threatening to bring them back to versions of themselves they never want to revisit.

A small figure darts across the kitchen, appearing and disappearing in the shadows and the moonlight.Clarke flips the switch to the overhead light and then they’re bathed in bright fluorescents, their intruder freezing in front of the marble island, little arms full of boxed and canned food.

It’s a child.A little girl, from what Clarke can tell, gnarled, matted hair and face covered in dirt.The girl’s eyes are darting back and forth between both of them and then she’s dropping her haul of food and pulling a handmade knife from her boot.

She’s small, can’t be more than ten years old if that, and she’s clearly terrified.“Whoa,” Clarke says, hand up to show she’s unarmed.She steps out from her place behind Bellamy and takes a few steps toward the girl.“It’s okay,” she says, eyes flitting to Bellamy, who still has the gun in his hands, although he’s lowered it slightly, a look of disbelief spreading across his features.“We won’t hurt you,” Clarke says, and she makes a move toward Bellamy, to push the gun down completely, but this must confuse the girl, because suddenly she’s screaming, a shrill, ear splitting wail that echoes around the kitchen, bouncing from wall to wall as she runs at Clarke, knife poised to strike.

She’s strong for such a little thing, managing to knock Clarke to the ground, her knife sliding in to the fleshy part of Clarke’s thigh.She cries out, and curses herself for not wearing pants.It’s not like they would have done much good, but at least there would have been a little less bare skin for the kid to aim at.She can only be so grateful the girl didn’t go for any vital organs.

Bellamy is there in a heartbeat, pulling the child off of Clarke, his arms banding around her own so she can’t hit him.She still has legs though, and finds no problem using them to kick at Bellamy’s shins, wriggling around in his arms, trying to get free.

“Seriously,” he grumbles.“Stop fighting, we aren’t going to hurt you.”

And Clarke’s not sure if it’s Bellamy’s voice or his words or the sight of her bleeding on the kitchen floor, but the girl stills in his arms, her eyes trained on Clarke who has successfully removed the knife and is trying to staunch the bleeding.

“Natblida,” the girl whispers, and this gets Bellamy’s attention.He must not have noticed the knife in her thigh when he pulled the little girl away.

“Fuck,” he curses.“Clarke—” and his voice breaks a little and he looks between her and the girl who’s gone practically boneless in his arms.He can’t put her down yet.He can’t let her attack Clarke again.

“I’m fine,” she mumbles, hobbling to a kitchen chair, dish towel wrapped tightly around her wound.She sits facing them and eyes the child, extending her open hands that are now covered in nightblood.“Yes,” she says.“Natblida.Are you one too?” she asks in Trigedasleng.

“Yes,” the little girl whispers, but when she answers, it’s in English.Good to know she understands both.

“If I put you down,” Bellamy starts.“Promise not to attack again?”

“Yes,” she whispers again.“Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Clarke says, sending her a weak smile as Bellamy lowers her to her feet.“What’s your name?”

“Madi.”

“I’m Clarke.And that’s Bellamy.”

Madi turn to him, sizing him up.“Are you Natblida too?”

“Yeah,” he says, and just to prove it, he takes one of the kitchen knives and pricks his palm, a small bead of nightblood bubbling to the surface and trickling out.“Natblida, just like you.”

“How did you get here?” Clarke asks.“Where did you come from?”

“Shallow Valley,” Madi says, and Bellamy and Clarke exchange a look of bewilderment.They’ve been in and out of Shallow Valley for years now, and they’ve never seen her once.“I see you there sometimes, but I usually hide.Nomon said they would take me for my blood, and make me fight.She said always to hide, but Nomon has been gone now for so long, and I got hungry.The fish wouldn’t come to me today, so I followed you back here.”

“You followed us?” Bellamy asks.“We were in a rover, how did you keep up?”

“I know how to track,” Madi says, smirking.

“How old are you?” Clarke asks.

“Nine.”

“And you’ve been alone for the past three and half years?”

Madi shrugs.“Yeah.”

It makes Clarke want to cry, to know this little girl was all alone, surviving on whatever she could find, living day to day without anyone to look out for her, while she and Bellamy were always there, on the cusp of finding her, but never quite close enough.“You could have come to us sooner, if you saw us in Shallow Valley.We would have taken care of you.”

“We will,” Bellamy says, crouching down so he’s face to face with Madi.“We _will_ take care of you, if that’s something you want.”And Clarke knows he’s giving the little girl a choice in the matter, but there’s no way in hell Bellamy is going to let a nine year old child back out on her own.The big brother in him will never allow it.

Madi sucks in a deep breath, looking back and forth between them.And then she’s nodding and her shoulders droop, all her bravado gone as a weight lifts from her shoulders. 

She doesn’t have to be alone ever again.

And just like that, they have a kid.

—-

Bellamy makes a box of pasta with cheese sauce and Madi eats it ravenously.Clarke is pretty sure she’s never had food like this before, and it’s cute the way she savors the first bite, taking in all the flavors before devouring the rest.

It’s cute, even is she did stab Clarke in the leg.

Madi is apologetic again and again as they get her cleaned up and settled into one of the other bedrooms to sleep.And again and again, Clarke reassures her it’s okay.She didn’t knick any arteries or tear any muscles.It hurts like a bitch and requires stitches, but it’s not the worst injury Clarke’s had on the ground.

She sits on the couch in the living room after Madi falls asleep, Bellamy in front of her, using the coffee table as a chair.He cleans the wound and Clarke hisses at the sting of the alcohol wipe.When he gets to work on the stitches, Clarke is in awe of the way his hands work, so gentle and featherlike, his stitches near perfect. 

“How is it that I have medical training, and your stitches are still better than mine?” she asks.

“My mother was a seamstress, remember?” And she does.She knows everything about him now.His childhood and his teenage angst and his mother and his sister and how every moment spent with them on the Ark was like a ticking time bomb that he set off.The guilt that eats at him daily because of it.The guilt that eats at him for every wrong decision he’s ever made.

It’s what time does.

Allows the chance to really know someone.

“And yet you never pitched in at the dropship medbay _once_ ,” she teases.

He rolls his eyes, but smiles all the same.The cut isn’t too deep, thank goodness, and he gets the stitches done in record time.There are gauze pads and antiseptic cream and he uses both to finish dressing the wound.Clarke watches him work, a look of adoration on her face.When Bellamy looks up and catches her eye, he startles just a little before leaning in and kissing her.

“All better,” he says, lips brushing hers.

She nods, sighs heavily.“So,” she says.“We have a kid now.”

He chuckles.“Yeah, I suppose we do.”

“Well, lets just hope this was a one time thing, and she’s _not_ actually the child from hell.”

“I think we already raised that one,” he jokes, and Clarke remembers the early days of the dropship, the two of them barely getting along most days, friendship tentative, arguing like an old married couple about the safety of the others.She remembers whispered words from Jasper and Monty, references to her and Bellamy being mom and dad.She remembers a little girl they couldn’t help.One that still hurts to think about.Charlotte did a bad thing, one that haunts them both, and she caused a lot of problems in camp, dealing with her situation in an extremely unfortunate way, but still she was a child who deserved better.Thinking about her must bring a sad look to Clarke’s face, because suddenly Bellamy is squeezing her knee to regain her attention.

“Murphy, obviously,” he jokes, smiling weakly.

And yeah, Murphy was a pain in the ass too, hopefully still is, up on the ring, but Clarke cares for him all the same.Cares about him just like she cares about each and every one of the delinquents they began this journey with.

“Yeah.Obviously.”

—-

“Huh.”

“ _Huh?_ ” Bellamy echoes.“We tell you our whole sordid life story in space and on the ground, and that’s all you have to say?”

“I don’t know,” Madi shrugs, thoughtful expression on her face.Her little fingers tap against her bottom lip, processing everything.“What did the cake in Mount Weather taste like?”

Bellamy’s eyes widen and he turns to look at Clarke, who’s standing back, smothering a laugh with her hand.Madi is nine, honestly what does he expect?

“I don’t know,” Bellamy says dryly.“I was too busy being hung upside down and drained of my blood.”

“Bellamy!” Clarke exclaims, but Madi just giggles.

Things get easier from there, with everything out in the open.They don’t keep secrets from Madi, despite how young she is.She knows every decision they’ve ever made, good, bad, and ugly.Every life they’ve ever taken in order to save others.Madi isn’t too shocked, in the end.She’s a grounder, and despite Shenandoah being mostly peaceful, she isn’t a stranger to war times or killing.She was raised to believe she’d be made to fight because of her blood, and the fact that now that never has to come to pass is another notion Bellamy and Clarke make sure to instill in her.

She doesn’t have to be afraid.They won’t let anything happen to her.

They decide to move to Shallow Valley permanently much sooner than expected.Instead of waiting on the bunker and the rocket, they decide to start raising Madi in her home, despite her insistence that she’s okay with Becca’s mansion.They had planned to move to Shallow Valley eventually, so why wait when they can get started now, and have everything up and running by the time their friends return.

Madi leads them to a cabin just a little ways north of the church, stopping in front of its rickety porch.She takes a deep breath, and looks to Clarke.

“This one was yours?” Clarke asks gently, and Madi nods.

This is the place she last saw her parents, when she was just six years old.This is where they died.

“Do you still want to live here?” Bellamy asks, crouching down to her level, searching her eyes.

Madi bites her lip, takes in all their surroundings.The open expanse of land off to the right.“Can...can we build a new one?” she asks, hopeful expression on her face.

Bellamy smiles.“You want me to build you a house?” he teases.

“Mmm, yeah.But only if me and Clarke can help.”

And so they get to work.

—-

There’s a good amount of wood around the village that they’re able to repurpose as well as metal odds and ends.They find a decent array of building supplies at the mansion too, and after only a few months they have the makings of a home. 

Clarke and Madi take a break lounging in the grass as they watch Bellamy work on the roof.For the first time in years, he’s in danger of something so simple as falling and it has Clarke on edge.

Madi takes a sip of water from the canteen before passing it to Clarke, who takes her own sip.“So,” Madi starts.“When are you and Bellamy gonna get married?”

Clarke nearly chokes on the water, coughing and sputtering everywhere.This catches Bellamy’s attention and he stops hammering away at the roof to look at them.

“Okay?” he yells.

“Fine,” Clarke chokes out as Madi pats her on the back.

“Okay,” he says, getting back to work.“Madi, make sure she’s not lying.”

Clarke grumbles something under her breath and Madi gives him a thumbs up.

Finally regaining her composure, Clarke turns to the girl who’s quickly coming to be her daughter.“What made you ask that?”

“I know you guys are in love and stuff.You look at each other like Nomon and Nontu did, so I was just wondering.Plus because of all the stuff you said before, about the past, you know?Like, you loved Finn and Lexa, but they could always tell you loved Bellamy more.Most.Even if at the time you couldn’t.When you love someone that much, don’t you wanna marry them?”

Clarke smiles.Madi is wise beyond her years, but also so completely naive and innocent at times.“I did love Finn and Lexa both, but yeah, you’re right.It was different.Finn was nice to me when we first landed, and it was like puppy love.He was cute and gave me attention, even if it was totally wrong on his part.”

“Because of Raven,” Madi says, remembering the story.

“Right.And Lexa...she was a challenge.Fierce and brutal and everything I thought I was supposed to be down here.Sometimes I wonder if I just wanted to be more like her, rather than actually be with her.”She pauses, sucking in a breath.“But Bellamy...he’s always been there.A partner, an equal, someone who understands me completely.Even though we started out rocky, that changed pretty quickly.We had to work together in order to survive and keep everyone safe, and somewhere along the way that resulted in being stupid in love with him,” she chuckles. 

“Head and heart,” Madi says, remembering another story about the end of the world that could have had a much more tragic ending.

“I told him to use his head,” Clarke sighs.

“But he still used his heart,” Madi beams, and Clarke throws an arm around her shoulders, dragging the girl into her side.

She smiles softly.“Yeah, he did.”

“Soooo.Do you wanna marry him, then?”

“Obviously,” Clarke says.“We’ve basically been married for the last four years anyway.There’s just never been any formal ceremony. But I think we’ll wait until everyone else is here too.Octavia would probably murder us both if she missed it. ”

“Cool!I wanna see what a space wedding is like.”

Bellamy comes down from the roof a little later and joins them in the grass.He flops down beside Clarke, lowering his head to her lap.She cards her fingers through his hair, brushing back sweaty strands and he closes his eyes, noses against her palm any time her fingers still.

It’s pretty damn close to perfect.

—-

They officially move into the cabin right after the four year anniversary of Praimfaya.There’s a small kitchen area with a table and wood burning stove salvaged from one of the other buildings in Shallow Valley.They have a living room and a couch they drove over from the mansion, as well as a room for Bellamy and Clarke and a room for Madi.

“We have to bring the mattresses!” Madi says one day when they’re packing the last of their things from the mansion.Clarke chuckles, remembering Bellamy’s same comment over a year ago.

“Someone is getting spoiled,” Clarke teases, and Madi huffs.

“No!I just don’t want to have a bad back one day.”

“Did Bellamy tell you to say that?” Clarke asks, eyebrow arched.

Madi mutters something under her breath and gets back to packing.

The cabin’s bathroom is a whole other story.Bellamy is not a wiz when it comes to irrigation, and neither is Clarke.For that, they’re forced to wait for Raven and Monty and any other engineer that knows how to get things going.They suffer the devastating blow of losing the shower and instead resort to installing a huge metal tub that they fill with boiling water for baths.The lake is really close by, so it isn’t too much of a struggle.

Madi’s taken her nightly bath and settled in for bed when the cursing starts.

“Oww, Clarke!Too tight!” she cries, and Clarke sighs, pulling her hands away from attempting to comb through and braid back the tangles of Madi’s hair.

“I’m sorry,” she says.“I’ve only ever done my own.”

“Clearly,” Madi mumbles.“Where’s Bellamy?He’s better at it.”

“Here,” he says, appearing in the doorway, smug smile stretching across his lips.“I heard the crying from the living room.”

Clarke shoots him an exasperated look and stands, gesturing to Madi.“All yours.I can tell when I’m not wanted,” she says, sniffing dramatically and heading for the door.Bellamy grabs her wrist to stop her from leaving and pulls her into a hug.

“Hey now, no one said that.”

Clarke glances at Madi, teasing her with big puppy dog eyes.The kid sighs.“He’s right.I never said that.Just basically that you suck at braiding.You can stay,” she says, patting a spot on the bed.“Just don’t touch my hair.”

Clarke grins and ruffles Madi’s hair anyway as she takes back her seat on the bed, this time leaving room for Bellamy to join them.He takes up braiding duty, combing out Madi’s rat’s nest gently and then starting in on some intricate braid Clarke is pretty sure she’s seen on Octavia before.Clearly the other Blake’s penchant for braids started before they’d ever hit the ground, courtesy of her big brother.

“You really are good at this,” Clarke says, watching his fingers work.He’s such a good big brother, such a good father figure, such a good _person_.

“I had a lot of practice,” he says, shrugging.“I had to entertain O somehow, and sometimes it was doing her hair.Sometimes it was letting her do mine, which I do not recommend, by the way.She’s probably worse at it than you are, princess.”

Clarke elbows him in the side gently.

“Story?” Madi asks.

“Any particular one in mind?”

“Mmm, how _about_ one about Octavia?She’s a warrior queen now, right?”

“Yeah,” Bellamy says, smiling fondly.“She’s something.” And then he launches into a tale of his fearsome sister and her determination to become a warrior and hone the strength she’d always had.It makes Clarke happy to know that it doesn’t hurt Bellamy so much anymore to talk about Octavia.That they were able to sort things out before the world ended.She just hopes when they uncover the bunker and get it open, his sister is still receptive to the man he’s become in times of peace.

—-

The next year passes without much happening.Bellamy and Clarke spend their days living, taking care of Madi, taking care of each other.On the five year anniversary of Praimfaya a rocket doesn’t come down from the sky and the bunker remains closed.They take a trip back to Becca’s mansion to look for any kind of tools that might aide in clearing out the rubble in Polis leaving the majority of their people trapped.It’s no luck though.The lab is devoid of any kind of explosives or heavy machinery that might move rocks.

Things change about two months later though, when a prison ship falls from the sky.It’s scary at first, these unknown people of Eligius that land in their valley and impose on their lives.They have tech though, a lot of it.The kind that could open a bunker.

Clarke has learned a lot about survival in her time on the ground; Bellamy too.She’s learned that even people with the best intentions usually screw you over in the end.She’s wary when Bellamy suggests they try and broker a truce and an agreement with these people.

“You told me a long time ago to use my head,” Bellamy says.“And my head says I don’t want to go to war, not if we don’t have to.”

“I don’t either,” Clarke says, thinking of their life here.The peace and quiet. Madi, and her safety.That is not something Clarke is willing to forego.

“Then let’s negotiate.”

And so they do.

Bellamy goes alone, walking into the area Elgius landed, hands up, showing he’s unarmed, but Clarke knows him and even if he left his rifle behind for her and Madi, there is surely a knife in his boot and a handgun tucked into the waistband of his pants.Clarke and Madi hide in the tree line, watching, waiting, rifle scopes in line with their targets should anything go wrong.

Eligius takes no chances, training their own weapons on Bellamy as he approaches.

“I just want to talk,” he says.“No weapons, just...see if maybe we can help each other out.”

A woman steps forward, gaze hard and unyielding, a huge scar running across her throat.“You alone?” she asks.

“Right now?Yes.But I have a wife and daughter who will probably give you hell if I don’t walk out of here alive, so, your call.”

The woman looks him up and down, and Clarke can see through the scope of her rifle that there’s a nameplate on the woman’s jacket. 

_Diyoza._

It also doesn’t escape Clarke that Bellamy just referred to her and Madi as his wife and daughter.It’s kind of the best, even if their current situation is kind of the worst.

“So you have a family,” Diyoza says.

“Yeah,” he says.“It’s probably best for me not to lie to you, so I’ll let you know now I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep them safe.But there’s more than just us.The rest of our people are still underground, trapped in a bunker, and from what I can tell, you have the kind of equipment we need to dig them out.”

“And what do we get out of this deal?” Diyoza asks, taking a step toward him.She’s trying to intimidate, and while she appears formidable, Bellamy is far from shaken.She knows nothing of what he and Clarke have lived and fought through.She’s not even close to measuring up to the horrors of his nightmares.

“Half of this valley.This is our home, but we’re willing to split it evenly, right down the middle, or we coexist together.There’s plenty of room for everyone.No need to fight for it.”

“It’s not enough.”

“Then make your demands.”

“I want information on what the hell happened to the planet,” she says, gesturing around her.

“Done.”

“I have 238 of _my_ people up on our mothership trapped in cryosleep, because the minute we wake them up, the radiation sickness sets in and they die.You got a solution to that?”

Bellamy huffs a laugh.“Actually, yeah.I do.”He bends down to his boot, uses his left hand to pull out his knife, while the right stays up, a symbol that he won’t attack.Eligius doesn’t seem to care, and every member holding a gun takes aim, safety’s clicking off.“Easy,” Bellamy says.“This isn’t for you, it’s for me.”He uses the tip of the knife to knick his palm, and just like he showed Madi when they first met, he lets a few drops of his nightblood trickle out for all to see.

Because in the end, it always comes down to blood.

Because blood must have blood, must have _nightblood_ , in this case.

And Diyoza must know that, by the way her eyes widen.

“Start talking,” she says.

And he does.

The end of the world, the first time.ALIE and the different versions of her program and the City of Light and the nightblood and Praimfaya.The second end of the world.

“The nightblood was originally created for _us_ ,” Diyoza says.“For long term space missions.But not all of us received the doses we were supposed to, and we have no way of engineering it for those that didn’t.”

“I wasn’t born like this, I was made.So you open that bunker, and I’ll get you an audience with the doctor that knows how to recreate it.”

“You can guarantee that?”

“Well, considering she’s my wife’s mother, yeah.I can guarantee you meet with Dr. Griffin.”

Diyoza sizes him up one more time, smirk playing at her lips.“Deal.”

—-

What surprises Clarke the most about the entire deal is that Eligius _actually_ keeps their word.They hold up every part of their end, cracking open the bunker and releasing every surviving member of Wonkru. 

Octavia is a sight far beyond words, wearing blood like war paint, calling herself _bloodraina_ , the red queen.It takes a lot of talking her down on both Bellamy and Clarke’s part before she lets go of picking a fight with Eligius.

A lot of bad shit appears to have gone down in the bunker and Clarke wants to know all about it.Knows Bellamy does too, but there will be time for that later.They still have to hold up their end of the deal.

It’s not really Clarke’s favorite, seeing her mother again after five years only to then see her off on a journey to the Eligius mothership.But Bellamy promised Diyoza a meeting with Abby and Abby agreed to recreate the nightblood as long as Diyoza herself contributes the bone marrow specimen.She had been one of the lucky ones when the solution was first created.

Eligius returns to Earth a week later with Abby, 238 cured former prisoners, and to Clarke and Bellamy’s astonishment, Spacekru, alive and in tact.They had just been waiting for a fuel source to get them home.

They blend together easily, all these people from every walk of life coexisting in one lush green valley after the world has ended.It helps Eligius assimilate better once they find out what happened to the earth while they were sleeping.It also helps that they figure out pretty quickly they aren’t going to be judged for any past crimes.For being prisoners.The original 100 were prisoners and criminals themselves.Every member of the newly minted Wonkru has a past and they’ve all collectively decided that that is where their unsavory actions will stay. 

It’s a warm day in summer, not long after everyone’s tearful reunions when Clarke finds Madi helping out Raven in her new workshop.One of the old cabins had been converted into a space for engineering projects, while some of the others were being used for a school and a town hall.Another perk brought to them by Eligius has been more building materials.Bellamy and Clarke had been able to scrounge up enough materials to build their own home, but there had been nowhere near enough to make the housing they needed for the all the people now residing in Shallow Valley.Diyoza had quickly stepped up as a forewoman, directing her men and women and those of Wonkru in constructing new homes and community spaces.

Spacekru has only been home a few months, but already Raven’s workshop is full of odds and ends and tech to tinker with.She’s currently underneath the rover, Madi handing her tools as she works.

“Hey,” Clarke says.“What kind of trouble are you two getting in?”It hadn’t taken long at all for Madi to get used to so many new people, especially the ones she’d already heard so many stories about.

“None, Clarke,” Madi says, playfully rolling her eyes. “Raven’s teaching me stuff.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Clarke teases.“It’s almost time for dinner though so how about you go get cleaned up?” 

“Who made it?” Madi asks skeptically.

“Who do you think?” Clarke asks, giving her a pointed look.

Madi makes a relived motion, swiping her hand across her forehead.“Ok, good.” And then she’s off, leaping from her stool and striding out of the workshop. “See you at home!”

“I take it you didn’t cook much in the last five years?” Raven asks, sliding out from under the rover.

Clarke takes over Madi’s vacated stool, giving Raven a hand up.“Bellamy’s better at it.Madi hardly touches anything I make.”She pauses.“Although I don’t blame her, it’s usually of the burnt variety.”

Raven laughs.“Still can’t believe you two found a kid.I mean, unless I missed something before we left.I know there was a huge, sweeping declaration of love at the end of the world, but, she’s definitely a bit big to be a five year old.”

Clarke chuckles.“Yeah, you definitely didn’t miss anything.But we didn’t find her.She found us.And she’s ours, forever and ever,” Clarke says, dopey grin and all.

“You’re good at this,” Raven says.“Being a mom.”

“Bellamy’s better.”

“Yeah, well he’s pretty much always been a mother hen, that’s nothing new.But you’ve always been that way too.You took care of all of us from the beginning.You made sure we stayed alive.You made the hard choices.Bellamy too, but, you’ve always taken the brunt of it, Clarke.And we all love and appreciate you so much for it.”

There are tears welling in Clarke’s eyes now, and she bats at them before they can fall.“Thanks, Raven,” she says softly.“You know we love and appreciate you, too.For everything you and your brain do.”

Raven smiles, scoffs, pulls Clarke up into a hug.And it’s so nice, Clarke thinks, to have one of her best friends back.They’ve been rocky at times, but always they’ve been able to come together when it counts.Clarke is looking forward to getting to experience what their friendship can be like in times of peace.She only hopes it grows deeper.

“So, you really think I’m okay at this mom thing?” Clarke asks.

“Duh.”

“Well, that’s good,” she says, placing a hand over stomach.“Because in about six months Madi’s gonna be a big sister.”

Raven’s eyes widen.“Holy shit.Are you serious?” she asks, and Clarke nods.“Does Bellamy know?Madi?”

“Not yet,” Clarke says.“I actually just came from seeing my mom and she confirmed it.”

“And you told _me_ first?”

“Well,” Clarke says, shrugging.“We were having a moment, and I needed to tell _someone_.”

Raven laughs, and pulls her into another hug, before pushing her away and giving her shoulders a gentle shake.“Go tell your family!”

“Okay, okay,” Clarke says, and she sets off for home, ready to share the news with her most beloved.

When she gets home, Bellamy is standing at the stove, dishing up two plates while Madi is already at the kitchen table, shoveling food in her mouth.

“Hey, there you are,” Bellamy says, and Clarke wraps her arms around his middle, reaches up, kisses him long and deep.She’s pretty sure Madi is making retching sounds in the background, but she doesn’t care.Bellamy is smiling when she pulls back.“What was that for?” he asks, voice hoarse.

“I just love you,” Clarke whispers.“And,” she says, pulling away and walking over to Madi.She bends over and kisses her daughter’s temple.“I love you, even if you are impatient.”

Madi sniffs.“What?I was really hungry, I worked up an appetite today.”

“Uh huh.Well, just know I love you both more than anything in the world,” she says, tears welling up again.

“Clarke,” Bellamy says, advancing on her.“What’s going on?You’re kinda scaring me.”

“I just want you both to know how much I already love you, because in a few months, there’s gonna be one more person for all of us to love.”She looks at Bellamy pointedly, lets her hand fall to her stomach again, and then he gets it, maddeningly happy grin spreading across his face.

“Really?”

Clarke nods and then they’re kissing again, Bellamy’s mouth pressing against her lips and her cheeks and her forehead and nose.Clarke can’t stop laughing and she can’t stop the tears this time as they trickle out.Bellamy’s hand falls to her stomach, entwining with her own, still resting there.When they pull apart, just a little, Clarke turns to Madi.“Madi, you think you’re up to being a big sister?”

Madi’s mouth is hanging wide open, her fork dangling in mid air.Her eyes dart back and forth between her parents, standing side by side, still semi entwined, shooting big goofy smiles her way.She snaps out of her shock and drops her fork, leaping up from the table and running toward them.Her little arms wrap around them both and it just makes Clarke cry harder.

Her family is perfect, and it’s only going to grow more perfect.

Bellamy has one arm wrapped around Clarke’s waist and the other leaves her stomach, instead moving to cradle the back of Madi’s head as the little girl hugs them tighter.When she pulls back, she bites her lip, looks up at them both.

“I don’t know how,” she says quietly.

“Then I’ll teach you,” he says.“I happen to have it on pretty good authority that I was the best big brother on the Ark.”

Madi gives him an exasperated look.“You were the _only_ big brother on the Ark.”

Bellamy sighs, pulls his family closer together.“Still counts.”

—-

Madi takes to being a being a big sister the second her baby brother is placed in her arms.He’s small and wriggly and he won’t stop crying, but he’s also precious and new and full of life.Madi holds him close, runs a finger down his tiny baby nose, and promises to always keep him safe.

She whispers the words, but Clarke hears anyway, and it just makes her already overactive hormones even more overactive.She’s laying in bed, sweaty and exhausted from giving birth, but she clutches Bellamy’s hand when she sees the look of sadness on his face at Madi’s words.She’s still a child herself.And things are different here from how they were on the Ark.Augustus doesn’t need to be kept hidden.He has two parents who care about both of them, and will protect both of them.

This will not be another case of my sister, my responsibility for either of her children.

“Together,” Clarke says.“We’ll keep each other safe together.”

—-

It doesn’t really occur to Clarke until Gus is five years old and talking up a storm that she needs to have a conversation with Madi about terminology.Her daughter is almost seventeen and Clarke figured that if at any point in Madi’s life she wanted to call them mom and dad instead of Bellamy and Clarke she would have done so already.She’s never pushed the issue because it’s never been one, but she can’t help but wonder sometimes if really it is when she sees the look on Madi’s face every time Gus calls for Mama or Daddy.It’s wistful and longing and maybe it makes Madi think of her birth parents.Maybe it makes her unsure if she’s allowed to call them that too.

It doesn’t matter to Clarke what Madi calls her, but she wants Madi to feel comfortable about the decision.She doesn’t want her daughter to have any lingering doubt and think she can’t call them that just because they aren’t blood.

Family is more than just blood.They chose each other, and that counts for a hell of a lot.

The look appears on Madi’s face again as she and Clarke are walking across the center of town, headed for a council meeting.Gus runs out of the school building and crashes into Clarke’s legs yelling “Mama mama mama!”She picks him up and presses sloppy kisses to his freckled cheeks, nuzzles their noses together, reuniting after an entire day apart.

Gus hugs her tight, but then he’s squirming to get out of her arms and once he’s back on the ground, he’s moved on to Madi, wrapping his little arms around her legs.“Madi!” he exclaims.“Guess what I learned at school today?”

Madi smiles and ruffles her brother’s hair.“Hmm.Did you learn...how to lose a tickle fight?” she asks, fingers going in for the kill, assaulting his belly with featherlight touches making him giggle and bend at the waist in an attempt to fend her off. 

“No!” he laughs, and Madi pulls her hands away.“Daddy taught us about the old clans from before and how some of them used to be like the Roman soldiers from even longer ago, but,” he says, voice dropping to a whisper.“He didn’t tell it as good as you do.”Gus gives her a toothy grin and Madi’s eyes widen as she drops down to Gus’s level.

“Don’t tell _him_ that!You know how he gets about his stories.”

“I know,” Gus says.“It was still okay, but Daddy’s better about really _really_ old stories.He should just leave grounders to you.”Gus takes a deep breath and then his eyes light up like he knows a secret and he can’t hold it in anymore.“Oh yeah, _and_ Daddy’s looking for you.You’re in trouble,” he sing-songs.

Madi scoffs. “For what?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he smirks, and it kind of takes Clarke’s breath away, it’s so Bellamy.

“Augustus,” Clarke chastises.“No teasing.Tell your sister what she forgot to do this morning,” she says, sending Madi a side eye.

“The trash is piling up!” he exclaims, animated features and arms flailing about.“It’s overflowing and exploding all over the kitchen and—”

“Ugh,” Madi groans, throwing her head back in the way most befitting of a teenager. “Okay, okay.I’ll take care of it.”

“I’ll fill you in on the meeting later,” Clarke says.“Go do your chores, and take your brother with you.”

“Bye Mama!” Gus says, grabbing Madi’s hand and pulling her toward home.

“Bye...Clarke,” Madi says, that wistful expression back on her face.

When Clarke gets home after the meeting, the trash has thankfully been taken out and the rest of the cabin is tidier than she left it that morning.Most likely Madi felt bad and did a little extra cleaning.Dinner is simmering on the stove and Bellamy and Gus are comfy on the couch, reading from one of Bellamy’s mythology books.Gus is clearly more interested in the illustrations, fingering lightly at the pages, but Clarke gets lost in the sound of Bellamy’s voice, soft, soothing, lulling.Different for each character and story.

She comes up behind the couch, kisses the top of each of their heads.“Where’s Madi?” she asks.

“Hey,” Bellamy says, turning to kiss her cheek.“In her room, I think.”

“Okay,” she says, heading down the hallway to their bedrooms.She hears her son’s excited voice carry the further she gets from them.

“Daddy, do the Zeus voice again!”And then Bellamy’s voice is a caricature, godly and mighty and Gus giggles.“See, _these_ are the stories you’re good at!”Clarke’s pretty sure she hears Bellamy scoff his exasperation.

When she reaches Madi’s door, she knocks gently, calling out.“Madi?Can I come in?”

“Sure.”

Clarke pushes the door open, but pauses for a moment in the doorway.Madi’s spread out on her bed, playing some tablet game Monty programmed.She tosses it aside though when Clarke enters the room fully and takes a spot next to her on the bed.

“So,” Clarks starts.“You know we love you.”

“Yeah…” Madi stretches.“What’s going on?I know I’m almost seventeen, but you’re not kicking me out, are you?” She asks in a jokey tone, but Clarke can’t help the gut punch she feels at the timid look on Madi’s face.Like she actually thinks they would make her leave.

“No!No, Madi, not ever.”

“Relax Clarke,” Madi says, grabbing her hand.“I know.”

Clarke breathes out a huge sigh.“I just…want you to know, that you’re so special to us, and the fact that you chose us to be your parents, is just so—”

“Are you pregnant again?” Madi asks.“Because this is kind of how you were acting last time when you told me.”

“What?No.You and your brother are handfuls enough.I think Bellamy’s hair would start going gray if he had another little one to worry about.”

“Yeah.He’s got enough kids to look out for at the school.Plus Gus nearly gives him a heart attack every other day.”

“Your brother does like mischief,” Clarke says and Madi smiles fondly.“But, back to what I wanted to discuss with you.”She takes a deep breath.“It’s just, I notice things sometimes, like maybe how lately—just, you’re ours, you know?Just as much as Gus is, and it’s okay, if you want to call us mom and dad, if that’s something you want.It doesn’t replace your Nomon and Nontu, or their memories, and it doesn’t matter to us, either way, what you call us.We had kids calling us mom and dad long before you and Gus, but I just see your face sometimes when Gus calls for one of us and I want you to know you can too.If you want.” 

Clarke’s kind of a complete mess, stream of consciousness pouring out of her.Bellamy definitely would have given a better speech.She can only hope Madi understands she doesn’t have to call them mom and dad.They can still be Bellamy and Clarke, that won’t make them any less her parents.But if she wants to use traditional terms like Gus, she can.

Madi has to bite her lip to keep from laughing.“You’ve been thinking about this a lot, huh?”

“I never used to,” Clarke says.“Like I said, it’s never mattered to us what you call us.Bellamy and I love you and Gus more than anything.But sometimes I wonder if it’s something you want, and maybe felt weird about starting now, since it’s been so long.Like how you meet someone new and miss catching their name, and it just gets to the point where it’s too awkward to ask.”

This time Madi does laugh.“I think…” she says.“I think I do want to.Because you are, you know? My Mom and Dad.You have been since that first night when I stabbed you and then Bellamy made me macaroni and cheese.”

Clarke leans in, kisses Madi’s forehead.“I love you,” she says.“Stabbing and all.”

When they sit down to dinner, Gus chatters on and on about his day, talking up both Bellamy’s history class and Monty’s teachings on numbers and counting.When he gets through all the food on his plate, he holds it up, angles it toward Bellamy.

“Daddy, can I have some more please?”

“Ooh,” Madi says, holding up her own plate.“Yeah, dad, me too.”

The look on Bellamy’s face is priceless, the first time his daughter calls him dad.It’s the most shocked frozen expression that quickly turns a little tearful. 

He doesn’t quite cry, but his voice is definitely choked up when he dishes up more rabbit, a “Yeah, sure,” slipping past his lips.

Clarke gets the same experience about twenty minutes later when in the middle of regaling them with news of the council meeting, she gets on a tear about Diyoza’s plan for further expansion and Madi just rolls her eyes, an exhausted “Mooom,” pouring out of her.

It’s kind of the best family dinner ever.

—-

Later into the night, the cabin grows quiet after everyone has been tucked into bed.Clarke crawls into her own and snuggles down between the soft sheets, Bellamy already half asleep next to her.

His arms reach out lazily and tug her into his chest, and even after ten years together, its still the greatest way to end the day.He’s warm and sleepy and his fingers move languidly against the base of her spine, drawing shapes and making her shiver.She scoots as close as possible, her head fitting just under his chin.

“We’re doing good, right?By both of them?”

Bellamy’s arms tighten around her and he kisses her temple, noses at the skin after.“The best we can, princess.And I’d say our best is pretty damn good.Aside from the usual teenage angst, no complaints.”

Clarke sighs, safe and happy and so in love with him and this life they’ve carved out for themselves.“Yeah,” she says.“No complaints.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for being loving and supportive readers! Leave some feedback if you wish!
> 
> ALSO YOU GUYS THAT HUG IN 5X04 AND THE HEAD AND HEART MOMENT IN 5X05 I AM DEAD.


End file.
